Live Sustainably by Growing Your Own Food

As Earth Day approaches we are
focused on how to save our beautiful amazing rich planet. One of the most personally rewarding ways of
saving the planet is growing your own food.
As I was doing research on this topic I found a lot of reasons big
agriculture is destroying the planet. I
could have gone down that path in this article, but I’d rather focus on the
benefits and rewards growing your own food.

Just to get it out of the way, the benefits to the
planet. By growing your own food,
you are reducing the need for fossil fuels for transportation and
harvesting of the food and of course less soil erosion, chemical etc.

The main reason to grow your own food is to supplement
household food supply — to help them save money on food. That alone is a
very powerful reason.

There is nothing more local than food grown in your own backyard, your
windowsills, on patio containers, or sprouting in containers.

Growing your own fruits and vegetables means that you
know exactly what does and does not go into your food and exactly where it
comes from. Organically grown by your own hands.

You will get healthier in a number of ways. Not only
will you end up eating more fruits and vegetables, but you will be getting
added exercise. Did you know that you can burn as many calories in 45
minutes of gardening as you can in 30 minutes of aerobics? And, working in
the garden reduces stress.

You will get a bigger variety of your favorite fruits
and vegetables because you can choose from hundreds of different varieties
and you can grow the things you like the best.

You can teach your children or grandchildren where their food
actually comes from and that it doesn’t come from the supermarket but from
the soil, the earth that we all depend on. I was amazed that some of my
son’s school friends didn’t realize that apples came from apple trees or
had never picked strawberries before.

Reconnecting with the earth. There is no doubt that
human beings have become far removed from the natural world. It could be
that this separation from nature is a root cause of many of society’s
problems. When we deny ourselves access to the natural world, we lose a
part of ourselves, our culture, and our sanity. One of the simplest ways
to reconnect with nature is to dig right in and grow something.